The prettiest block in the South Bronx

The first Bronx subway stop on the 6 train from Manhattan leaves you a block from 138th Street and Alexander Avenue. Once known as “Doctors Row” and “The Irish Fifth Avenue,” Alexander Avenue between here and 141st Street boasts gorgeous row houses dating to the 1870s.

If you swoon over original details and don’t mind living sandwiched between a couple of housing projects, this could be the block for you.

Though now considered part of the catch-all South Bronx, the neighborhood is in the tiny Mott Haven Historic District. Once a thriving community dominated by Mott Ironworks and piano factories, Mott Haven fell victim to the usual urban blight in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1990s, antique shops, lofts, and a couple of cafes on nearby Bruckner Boulevard have helped revive the area. It feels pretty safe, yet reports of the neighborhood’s Soho-fication are, well, premature. Luckily, remnants of old Mott Haven still remain, like this piano ad.

Check out the brick sign on the old Mott Ironworks building, on the Harlem River. J. L. Mott is Jordan Mott, an industrialist who bought the land from the Morris (as in Morrisania) family in 1828.

it is a great area. My grandma immigrated to the states in the 1960s and has lived in the Bronx ever since. I just hope this area has not been invaded by hipsters and wannabe manhattanites like its has happened in Harlem.

During a recent visit from my home in CA to The Bronx where i was born and lived until 1978, I was just on Alexander Ave at a 5-Star sushi restaurant called CeeTay. Food is great as mentioned by many reviews and by friends in NYC. “Go South Bronx!” May it continue to grow stronger.

[…] turns left. Ahead on Alexander are beautiful rowhouses at the start of a stretch once known as Doctors’ Row. The Mott Haven Historical District begins on the next block. To the right is the attractive St. […]

[…] turns left. Forward on Alexander are lovely rowhouses at first of a stretch as soon as often called Doctors’ Row. The Mott Haven Historic District begins on the following block. To the correct is the enticing St. […]